


Glue from Heart Sinew

by InfinityIllusion



Series: All the Things You Need (Like a Toothpick to the Brain) [2]
Category: Bleach, D.Gray-man
Genre: (it's tyki), Angst, Brief Description of Injuries, Cussing, Found Family Vibes, Gen, Hand-wavy runic magic bs that shows up for .2 seconds, Ichigo thr Akuma with authority problems, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Little bit of cannibalism, M/M, The Noah family feels (or something), UraIchi Prompt Challenge #2, Wrote this on my phone again I need to stop that, canon-level violence, hand-wavy science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 15:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17266550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfinityIllusion/pseuds/InfinityIllusion
Summary: Tyki Mikk gave up information, now they need to decide what to do about the pieces of the Earl's plan they've learned.So they head to England, being that it's closer than China, but the journey is long for a traveling doctor and his entourage, and there are things lurking that won't stay in the dark forever.





	Glue from Heart Sinew

**Author's Note:**

> So the UraIchi is kinda background in this -- I'm really sorry, I tried, but plot happened and also the twins.
> 
> This is for the quote prompt: "The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.”  
> ~ The Great Gatsby
> 
> (Héctor, thanks for inspiring me to continue this, and Adain, thank you for asking "is that a threat?" in reference to the state of Ichigo's soul. ...It might be a threat in the next one.)
> 
> Also I wrote this on my phone again, and I caught some stuff, but ugh my eyes are tired so I probably missed stuff and I'll try and come back through in the next day or so and fix things up.
> 
> Finally, I don't think you can actually make glue from heart sinew, but it sounded cool.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own either Bleach or D. Gray-man.

* * *

Life moves on in the wake of the tortured, uh, human. Thing.

Humans don’t die like that, at least not in Karin’s experience — although she will admit to never having seen someone tortured to death, and then Urahara did something and somehow tricked Ichi-nii into eating the weird guy, so maybe that’s it. Humans definitely don’t survive pain that well, though, at least as far as she’s aware, but she also acknowledges that she has very limited experience in that area. Thankfully.

(And, really, Karin did _not_ need to see the cow eyes Ichi-nii was making at Urahara, but she can’t deny that the former Exorcist didn’t look cool coming out of the basement they left the thing in. Some famous building or another? Something like that... It was flashy, that’s all Karin remembers.

(Didn’t warrant her seeing evidence of Ichi-nii’s massive crush, it really didn’t. Ichi-nii is pure and will remain ever so because yes she wants her brother happy but she also would really like to not think of that about her brother thanks. Yuzu smiles and starts waxing romantic about the things Ichi-nii and Kisuke could do for dates.

(Karin sardonically suggested digging up corpses and science. Yuzu suggested hunting other _Akuma_ , Urahara catching them, and then letting Ichi-nii eat his fill, for once.

(Which. Karin guesses could be romantic, but also _eww_. Really, what’s the big deal about romance anyways? Just tell the person you like them or something, right? Ugh, people are hard — and she sees and works with a number of them for her damn job!)

Regardless of how bloody the aftermath was, or how romantic and/or awesome the entire torture session was, they know a fair amount now — not everything, but enough to know that they should head either to England or to China. Considering they’re currently near the border with France, England is decided to be the better part of valor. They’re all also a lot less likely to stand out in England, too, which helps, considering that Urahara has decided to come with them and is blond. Very blond.

“Why are you coming with us, again?” Karin has to ask.

“Why, because it’s so much easier for all of us to travel this way! A traveling doctor isn’t so unusual, and Tessai-san has agreed that he’ll keep the shop as a way station in case we ever need a place to rest.”

Or hide, more like. It’s not like she probably won’t make use of it, since her contacts (well, her’s and Tessai-san’s) seem to be mostly focused on getting her to England for whatever reason, and it’s not like they think she has any attachment to this particular town.

“Uh-huh. And what’re we supposed to do with you? What’s our story? It’s not like we don’t have jobs and stuff, you know, and I’m not dropping mine to be a nurse of whatever.”  
Urahara flaps his hand at her, waving away her concerns. “Don’t worry! Ichigo can be my assistant, or patient, or sibling, or an old granny!”

“Hey!” Ichigo hacks from the other room. “Just because I switch bodies doesn’t mean you should take advantage of it like that!”

“Oh ho, Ichigo, are you saying you have standards for bodies?”

“Of course you stupid Top-hat! Have you tried entering a half-rotten corpse? Or one that was partially dismembered? Of course not!”

“Hmm,” Urahara tilts his head down, causing the brim of his hat to cover his eyes, “I wonder if I could alter the bodies so they’d stay fresh longer, beyond whatever magic preservation your possession gives them, especially considering they look like they’re mummified, once you’re done with them.”

“Urahara-san, not at the dinner table please!” Yuzu cuts in, consonants clipped and voice as sharp as her glare from under her bangs. “You have your notebook for after dinner, and I don’t need you trying to write notes in the dregs of soup, when you’ve run out of space to plan on the linen, thank you.”

“Aaah, of course, Miss Yuzu.”

Karin really loves her sister. She’s a voice of reason in this insanity.

(Although, it’s good to see Ichi-nii be lively, and not worrying about every little thing and every move the way he’d been doing. For that, Karin can put up with cow eyes and awkward flirting. _If only they’d just make a move on each other_.)

~IiI~

It’s a few days before the agreed move date, and Ichigo is cursing the damp that’s deteriorating the body’s lungs and making him cough all the time, even as he steps back from controlling it and giving the semblance of sleep.

“Ichi-nii?” Yuzu mumbles.

“Hmm?”

“Are you ever gonna go to sleep?”

Ichigo winces. Is there a good way to say that, as a soul, he doesn’t sleep, and since the body he’s currently inhabiting is dead, it doesn’t need sleep, either?

“Uh, I am sleeping.” Eyes closed, even(ish) breathing and everything. It’s probably the easiest way to exist in a body — unless he needs the body to play dead, then that’s easier.

“ _No_ ooo,” Yuzu whines like she’s two again, and at a similar volume — Karin doesn’t even stir, so that’s at least one of them that’s getting a full night’s worth of sleep. “You’re talking, and your eyes are closed but you’re still thinking and stuff.”

“Well,” Ichigo pauses to try and come up with a better answer than his knee jerk thought, “um, I’ve got a lot to think about — we need to move in a few days, you’re going to need a few more needles soon, Karin still hasn’t said where’s she’s actually working that makes her as much money as she does, considering how often she’s out and away for a few days at a time, and she’s not being a prostitute or an murderer for hire, I think, and Urahara wants to meet because he thinks he can make things easier for this move — body-wise, what he had an idea about when he came over for dinner — and also because he’s discovered more information on how _Akuma_ evolve. Or something like that.”

Ichigo shrugs, “Lot to think about.”

“So turn your brain off.”

Well it’s good to know she’s been listening to Kisuke’s lectures on biology, kind of.

“Yuzu...this body’s brain is already off.”

“No, turn _your b_ rain off.”

He huffs, “Fine, we’ll try it your way.”

Not that he hasn’t already tried it that way, but whatever. He’ll just meditate or something until Yuzu drifts off again, and then he can go back to plotting.

Somehow he ends up meditating for longer than he expected, when he slits the body’s eyes to glance at the amount of light in the room, but at least it’s not like he’s totally wasted the night. He’s still got a good three hours before the girls will be up to plot and plan.

~IiI~

The move is, well. It’s different, having another person, another body to account for. Nice, because Kisuke can take of himself, and it’s another person who can really deal with any _Akuma_ they come across, and also another body as insurance against bandits and the like. Not so nice because Ichigo is still pissed about the last thing Kisuke made in his lab, along with the whole eating the guy debacle, but he’ll probably get over it. He knows why Kisuke did it after all.

So, yeah, Ichigo is an _Akuma_ , yeah he’s supposed to kill people and eat their souls, but that doesn’t mean he _has_ to.

But for now, it’s pretty entertaining to see bandits discover faith in the face of his weird skeleton. They seem to like to shoot whoever he’s inhabiting first, which is a blessing because it does nothing to him, unlike the girls or Kisuke, but it’s also really annoying right around now.

“Kisuke, what the hell?”

“So how are you preventing yourself from sinking fully into the ground considering the state of your feet? I thought you were balancing on the cobblestones before or in my lab, and I can’t believe I forgot to ask when we were digging up that last body. How do your arms hold things when you’re in a body? Does the bladed/spiked bone/metal protrusion fuse with the radius and ulna of the body and thus give you access to the body’s fingers, or is it something else?

“Potentially your spine could replace that of the body, but...”

Kisuke continues his mumbling observations in the middle of the forest, while Ichigo sighs and gives up.

There’s a mummified corpse and a bunch of dead bandits at their feet — none of which Ichigo can use in part because they’re bandits and people will have seen them recently, presumably, and also because a lot of them have their heads cut off.

Ichigo sighs and resigns himself to nudging Kisuke along until he resurfaces. He’d carry him but the lack of hands makes that a little more difficult....

Yuzu is beaming when she sees him position himself behind Kisuke, poised to nudge him along with his elbow, while Karin rolls her eyes.

“Can we get going then?” She asks, bored.

“You’ve got their guns they dropped?”

“And ammo, and a few purses, too,” she dangles one with a smirk.

Well at least they won’t be hurting for money too soon.

“Alright, I let me pack these things away, then. Ichi-nii, do you mind carrying this pack on your front, with your old one on your back?”

“Nah, go for it.”

It’s not like it’s that heavy anyways, and he’s eaten pretty well recently. Who knew weird human like things would sustain him for so long?

(Which, okay, Urahara tricked him into eating the guy — sidling up to Ichigo a day after they’d killed him, saying, “Here try this!” shoving a weird orb in his mouth and then running away is not nice whatsoever, added to the fact that it’s quite possible a person’s soul just makes it worse, and Ichigo is still angry about it — but right now he can’t complain about the results, because he’s still more or less full and feels stronger even if this body is wearing pretty thin in parts. So Ichigo isn’t really fine with having eaten a person, hasn’t really come to terms with it in full yet, but he appreciates that Urahara was looking out for him and his sisters, even if he’s still pissed about the whole thing.)

So now Ichigo is down a body, and Kisuke is lost in his mental science-land, but they have money and weapons, so it’s probably not that bad.

Now, they’d be doing better if Ichigo actually had a body so the next town they go to won’t be an awkward mess of dodging and hiding for him, but he’ll take what he can get.

~IiI~

They pass through the next town, and Ichigo grabs a body on their last day, but it doesn’t fit as well, as if he can’t quite stretch out fully. He mentions it in passing to Kisuke and leaves it at that.

Yuzu buys some more scraps of fabric, and starts wearing her hair differently — rather than pushing it all out of her face, she lets her bangs cover her forehead.

Karin buys another pair of dark pants and starts wearing pants exclusively.

They move on.

~IiI~

They make pretty good time considering how many people stop Kisuke in towns to get checked out or to get medicine or prescriptions, how often (or not, as has been more of the case since Ichigo _ate that guy, goddamnit Kisuke_ ) Ichigo needs to feed or they find _Akuma_ to kill, and Yuzu sometimes ends up buying and still managing to sell some of her various works — dresses are beyond her abilities without someone to wear them while she works (Karin still occasionally disappears for a random day or two with a “I have a job” and comes back with various scrapes and cuts and on one memorable occasion, a concussion that makes even Kisuke frown — they stay for a month in that town and nothing Karin does can make them leave any faster) or a stand to hang them on, but she can do skirts and aprons and little fabric satchels among other things, and she’s learned to make lace from a nice grandmother a few years ago who was kind enough to look in on them every so often and had taken Yuzu under her wing. That’s harder to sell, because it’s pretty work intensive so Yuzu sells it for more than her other pieces, but every so often they come across a place with people wealthy enough to buy some from her, and it’s always a major boost to their funds.

(Seeing Karin’s face when she came back from selling lace the first time she’d been happy with the product had been amazing — almost more amazing than the cake Ichi-nii had insisted they buy for celebrating after dinner that night, way back when she’d first started.)

So they’ve settled into a routine, and they usually have a place to sleep because, for the most part, everyone needs a doctor at some point, and a roof over the doctor’s head (and his traveling companions — Karin frequently poses as Kisuke’s apprentice in her pants, despite what she’d claimed before about not being a nurse, and Yuzu is Kisuke’s niece and Ichigo is whatever body he’s wearing — not that that prevents Yuzu and to a lesser extent Karin from trying to get them to _share a bed_ even when they’re all in the same room. “Human contact is important, Ichi-nii!” Yuzu says with confidence, color high in her cheeks, “And you sleep better anyways!” Ichigo still isn’t sure how she knows that, but she’s not wrong.  Still, they’re not doing _anything_ with his sisters in the room, or with his constant body hopping) and they’re comfortable.

Kisuke and Ichigo spar, sometimes, when they’re on the road, or near a town in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes they just relax and talk.

Which is of course when they run into an Exorcist General on the way to the next city because there happens to be a massive _Akuma_ infestation for reasons they can only guess (was it from disease? Some disagreement that got out of hand and turned far bloodier? The Earl is planning something?The Earl _is_ planning something, but is it connected?).

“There’s _Akuma_ ahead, and they’re fighting,” Ichigo says grimly.

Kisuke frowns. “This is the only path through here that’s big enough to not disappear when the storm that’s been threatening hits.”

Yuzu, who’s been looking more and more drawn, lately, shivers a little at the thought of getting stranded in the wet.

It’s happened before, but no one liked it.  
Karin, dressed in pants, a vest, and a cap, had gone ahead three days ago for her mysterious job, and said she’d meet them at the next city. Neither Ichigo nor Yuzu trust that she’ll be uninjured and so they’d left the last town early to try and beat the storm and get to Karin’s wounds, however hypothetical at this point, sooner.

“I don’t think we have a choice but to keep going.”

Kisuke nods. “I’ll take the front, then Yuzu, then you, Ichigo. I know you need to feed soon...”

“But this body is wearing out fast and it can’t move that quickly unless I leave it, yeah I know. Should’ve gotten a new one right before we left.” Ichigo continues with what would otherwise be a grimace on a more elastic face.

Kisuke grins in reply, “But now you can eat your fill! It’s almost like the world is giving you dinner on a silver platter with some nice wine and a great atmosphere for cuddling — would you let me hug you if the thunder starts?”

Ichigo is so very, very glad the body is worn down and just generally incapable of blushing, even if both he and Kisuke know that there’s very little chance of Ichigo turning down a hug from Kisuke, ever, even in a body he’s dug up from someone’s grave.

(Two people hug Ichigo with any kind of regularity. Karin does so only on occasion, and Yuzu has been pulling away recently, so now it’s more like one person.)

Yuzu looks a little embarrassed by Kisuke’s forwardness (and that blush being more color to her cheeks than Ichigo has seen in weeks), but also far too pleased by the turn of events.  
So they adjust they’re order, and continue on.  
Soon enough, Kisuke’s eyes react, and then Yuzu and Kisuke can hear the sounds of the _Akuma_ , but for Ichigo, regular, non- _Akuma_ shots can be heard, too.

Kisuke keeps a deceptively light grip on his Innocence, and is thankful that he would be the first in line to potentially confront the exorcist.

Even if it unfortunately means Ichigo likely won’t get the chance to eat.

But they continue.

“Hey, travelers, you might want to stay back,” a laconic voice eventually calls over the din of regular bullets, _Akuma_ bullets, and the crash of massive bodies falling in a forest. It’s a cacophony that only continues for a few more minutes before petering out completely.

And Kisuke has only recently been poking around and keep an ear out for Exorcist news for the past few months, but he’d be hard pressed to not know the Black Order’s newest loose cannon, Cross Marian.

It’s probably the coffin he’s lugging around that does it.

“Oh, Maria wants to play? Sweetheart, there aren’t any _Akuma_ left for you — and they were all pathetically easy to beat in the first place. Honestly, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to salvage any of them for my work...”

And it might be a trap, honestly it’s probably a trap, but Kisuke is a scientist and he can hear Ichigo sighing his resigned agreement, and Yuzu doesn’t make any moves to stop him, so he asks, “What kind of work, if you don’t mind a humble traveling doctor asking.”

Cross gives him a once over, lingering on Benihime for a sparse moment or two longer than anything and anyone else, before waving his hand and saying, “Nothing a human doctor would be interested in. Just some parts of these monsters might tell me how they work and why they all cropped up here, in the middle of moderately busy trail, in the middle of some godforsaken woods.”

“Hmm,” Kisuke hums, and he acknowledges the brush off, acknowledges the bait, and takes it anyways, because he will have Ichigo a body that isn’t a skeleton of metal. He owes the man that (wants that for himself, selfishly, even if he’s fine with what they have now, it wears on Ichigo to not have a body of his own that isn’t metal and bone and magic).

Because it would, admittedly, be nice to possibly cuddle against a form that reflects Ichigo’s soul, instead of some body they found in the ground that Ichigo isn’t that uncomfortable staying in.

“Have you tried breaking apart the mask and working on the central cogs? The souls need to be tied to the machines somehow, after all.”  
Cross raises his visible eyebrow at Kisuke.

“That I have, Mister...”

“Ah then you’ve seen the seemingly runic inscriptions on certain cogs, some of which extend to important cogs in the limb joints, seemingly acting as something akin to the human nervous system, if in its basic form, and thus contributing to the lack of functionality of many Level 1 _Akuma_ when they assume human form.”

Cross’s eyebrow starts twitching, and Kisuke would love to push him further, see just how much he knows (what he doesn’t know, what he won’t know, what Kisuke only knows because of Ichigo), but he also seems the type to do something drastic when annoyed and Yuzu is here.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Black Order Exorcist General, Marian Cross. My name is Kisuke Urahara, former Exorcist Captain of the Research and Development department of the Seireitei in Japan.”

~IiI~

They spend an extra few minutes swapping notes – or, Kisuke gives Cross a very abridged version of what he knows, leaving out as much about Ichigo as possible.  That’s admittedly helped by the fact that the rain-hat Ichigo is wearing hides his face pretty well, and he’s over sitting out of the way, “resting his old bones.”  He’s gotten better at manipulating the bodies he inhabits, and given the potential of new information, Cross is paying very little attention to the other two members of Kisuke’s party.

Kisuke gains some new ideas after his chat, but ultimately, Cross doesn’t have an Innocence that lends itself to capturing, and therefore allowing greater study of, _Akuma_.  Perhaps he’ll have more useful information in the future, if he’s able to make any use of the notes Kisuke has gifted him.

It’s an investment, for all that Ichigo and Yuzu both express their worry once they’re safely out of hearing – Ichigo’s or otherwise.

~IiI~

Karin is pretty sure that a major requirement for most exorcists, after a point, is that they’re complete and utter dicks. Even the ladies.  
She can’t fault them for being jaded assholes if they live long enough in their kind of work — fuck knows she’s jaded enough from just hanging around Ichi-nii, although becoming a roving Finder a few years ago just made things worse.

Admittedly helping General Tiedoll with the Innocence’s location wasn’t too bad, and Noise Marie was pretty nice, but Tiedoll exuded this air-headed aura mixed with the threat of “I’m going to adopt you” after he’d mentioned Karin being “just like his other apprentice!” (even if he was super competent when they nearly ran smack into another one of those assholes with funky forehead stuff and cool eyes that ended up leaving really quickly yelling about his? Her’s? Their? brother) that after a day made Karin wish that Ichi-nii and Yuzu were with her already.

Heck, she’d take Urahara at this point, seeing as he’d kinda grown on her.

She already had a family, thanks, and she wasn’t looking for a new one!

But the Innocence had been recovered, Karin only had a broken finger and a few bruises, and barely anyone had died from _Akuma_ attacks, so overall Karin would count it as a major win.

Plus, General Tiedoll actually paid in coins, unlike a few exorcists she’d been forced to help out, so Karin had actually had a bed to sleep in last night.

Not that she’d ended up doing much sleeping, since she was pretty sure something was going to go wrong, but it was still much nicer to sit on a bed with blankets than a cold rock. Besides, a stray — that didn’t look like it’d been on the streets that long and was receptive enough to her petting it — stayed up with her for most of the night after it had slipped through her partially opened window.  
Karin kind of hopes it’s still there, if only because Yuzu will probably want to pet it, too. She’s always wanted a cat, but it hasn’t really been feasible with how much they’ve traveled both in the past and more recently, and most animals don't seem to really like Ichi-nii for whatever reason.

So she’s pretty pleased with herself despite the prickling sense of danger when she finally sees Yuzu, Ichi-nii and Urahara in the center of the city, near the entrance to the cathedral in the middle of the plaza, early the next day.

“Yuzu!”

“Karin!”

And Karin will claim that she was just submitting herself to her twin’s hug, but after Tiedoll, she really did miss her.

Except that gives Yuzu the perfect opening to whisper, “You didn’t sleep at all last night! What were you worrying about?”

Karin shakes her head. “I don’t know. Bad feeling.”

Yuzu hugs her tighter and then shoves her at Ichi-nii.

“Hey, Ichi-nii,” Karin mutters inter his shoulder.

“Hey Karin, you okay?”

“Bad feeling...”

“Hmm, alright we’ll keep an eye out.”

Karin nods, then pulls herself together to greet Urahara.

“And how’s my favorite patient today?” Urahara grins.

“Broken pinkie and some bruises that’re doing just fine thanks!”

“Then let me check on your pinkie and I promise I’ll take your word for it on the bruises.”

“I can fix my own damn pinkie!”  Well, Noise Marie fixed her pinkie, but that’s beside the point.

“Yes, yes, but hands are delicate, so just a look. I’m sure you were perfect in getting it straightened out and strapped down!”

“Ugh, fine,” is what she says, but she’s grinning a little, even if the last line stings a bit. She forgot that the thing to strap her finger to needed to be straight _one time_ , and got corrected less than a minute later, and she’ll never live it down.

Urahara’s smirk softens a little to something more genuine, more like the expressions he gives Ichi-nii.

“Soooo, I’m staying at the inn over there and I told them my master, his niece and his father were coming today so there should be room for you guys.”

“Excellent! Lead the way, then!”

~IiI~

The cat is still there when they all return to the inn and like into Karin’s room. Yuzu makes a beeline for the cat, which fortunately makes no acknowledgement of Ichi-nii’s presence, and takes great pleasure in petting it while Kisuke tuts a little as he examines Karin’s finger but she didn’t do badly enough herself to get worried frowns and Ichi-nii giving as a result of said frowns.

(Apparently, Ichi-nii, not being able to make facial expressions easily — at least with the bodies he borrows — means that he’s even better at noticing other people’s facial expressions and somehow that just isn’t fair.)  
It’s nice, and Karin lets herself relax for the first time since she left her family.  
So of course the _damn cat_ has to start talking of all things.

“Miss, you should return to Master. Please Miss, your talents are needed.”

Yuzu shakes her head, and ignores the stares from the rest of the people in the room.

“No, Lulubell, my place is here. My family is here.”

“But...are we not your family? Tykki has been missing, the others are slowly awakening from their sleep after the traitor killed you all. Please, please come home.”

“No. The dream stays here.”

The cat sighs, “Very well.”

And then there is no cat but a lady in a suit with Yuzu out cold and under her arm and she’s leaping out the window.

Urahara follows her out the window, Ichi-nii shedding his body as he follows close behind, and Karin blinks and follows because that’s her baby sister.

She may not have Innocence, or be an _Akuma_ , but Karin is a Finder, has been a Finder for years now, and when the life span is usually measured in months that’s an accomplishment. And having been a Finder helping a General in this city means she knows it better than Ichi-nii and Urahara.

And considering the stigmata proudly adorning the woman’s brow and her golden eyes?

Karin’s willing to bet that they’re going to the central cathedral. That’s where the other Noah was two nights ago before it left.

~IiI~

Ichigo follows the New human? Nathanial? Asshole shape-shifting kidnapper through the streets, over the roofs, and it’s the only time Ichigo has willingly listened to the thing in the back of his skull telling him where to go, what to do, who to follow.

It gives him a boost, allowing him to keep up with the kidnapper, while Kisuke has to read her, Ichigo merely has to follow her.

Until she starts throwing knives, but even then she focuses on Kisuke, not Ichigo — assuming, probably, that he’s following her because she’s one of those weirdos who think they can control _Akuma_.

He lets her keep thinking that. For now.

“Innocence, activate,” Ichigo barely hears Kisuke whisper over the wind, and then he sees one of Benihime’s threads winding around the kidnapper’s feet, forcing her to flip up and over the street to avoid falling.

Ichigo grits his teeth. He could’ve caught Yuzu if what’s-her-face had fallen, maybe even play it off as helping those weirdos enough for Kisuke to take her out, but he’s not sure he’ll be able to if she’s heading to the cathedral.  
Benihime lashes out again, more sneakily this time — and that’s one of the things Ichigo admires about Kisuke, that he’s so in tune with his Innocence and this is absolutely not the time for that admiration and he normally wouldn’t even consider this, but this is the first time he’s been allowed to see the man actually fight when he’s not sparring with him the few times they’ve had enough time, and space, and energy to spar in the woods while traveling.  They never go all out, though, and this might be a chance for Ichigo to see it. 

Except Yuzu is kidnapped by one of those people who think they can control _Akuma_ , by one of them who thinks _Yuzu_ is one of them.

Ichigo slowly draws level with the kidnapper, and maybe she’s cottoned on to the fact that Ichigo isn’t actually on her side, since he’s done nothing to hinder Kisuke. But he’s not about to start now, not with Yuzu hanging in the balance. Hopefully Karin stayed back at the inn, since Ichigo can’t see or hear her following them, anymore.

But they’re losing chances to take the kidnapper out — the cathedral is in the center of the city, but there’s a major gap between the houses and shops ringing the area around the open plaza that might give them a chance. She has to touch down there.

Kisuke speeds up right before Ichigo prepares to leap, ready to take advantage of the kidnapper’s descent...but she doesn’t touch down in the plaza. Instead her muscles bunch and suddenly she’s not running but flying — some large bird with Yuzu casually tossed to her talons as her arms became wings and Kisuke tries, but there’s only so much he can compensate for when he was expecting her to go down not up — not so soon after barely a dip.

“What the hell?” Ichigo shouts as he bounds down into the plaza.

“She’s a shifter, I should’ve expected something like that.”

“We haven’t lost her yet. And she’s still headed for the top of the cathedral.”

Kisuke nods, but his face is still set with grim lines.

Which is of course when Ichigo hears gun shots and a scream from the cathedral. And it isn’t Yuzu.

“Karin?!”

~IiI~

Of _course_ the person who General Tiedoll drove off is back with his brother. Of course.

“Look what we have here! Isn’t this a little Finder far from home!”

And they recognize her.  Seriously?!

“A little Finder and no General hee!”

“We could have so much fun with a Finder! Hang her corpse across the church, place different parts in the pews~!” The first one sings.

“Blood! Hee hee!”

Karin kicks out at the one that’s holding her, the one who hadn’t been there last night, and who doesn’t seem to be all that talkative.

“Fuck off and let me go you assholes!”

“Ooo, the Finder’s got a mouth!”

“Hehehee!”

“Who the hell are you anyways?”

“Hahaha who’re we?!”

“Who’re we? Hee!”

And they _drop her_. Wow they’re stupid.  Sure it jars her ankle which she managed to mess up when they initially appeared, but she can still move, she still has a few wards and a gun on her (not that she’s going to pull that out just yet, even if she’s got her hand on it – no need to make them escalate, but she has it).

But not stupid enough to look away while introducing themselves, even if she can scoot back a couple of feet.

“I’m Jasdero,” the one with dark hair.

“And I’m Devit!”

“And together,” they say in unison when they _pull their damn guns on each other and shoot_. What the _fuck_.

“We’re Jasdevi!”

And then they turn their guns on her.

She screams, even as she tries to run on her bad ankle.

~IiI~

Ichigo bursts into the cathedral, even as Kisuke heads up to the bell tower following the kidnapper.

“Karin!”

“Ichi-nii, no!” Karin calls out from somewhere up ahead, and then the creature cackles.

“An _Akuma_? Lulubell brought _an Akuma_? _Akuma_ follow the Earl, follow the Noah! Are you here to help, _Akuma_? Here to help kill the girl?”

“No, I’m fucking not!”

“Wait, what?”

A perturbed weirdo is a great look, and a also a fantastic opportunity to attack the asshole.  
He gets a couple good swipes with his arms, but they’re points not blades, and the other person has guns.

“What the fuck? A rebellious _Akuma_?”

“Woah, is don’t know you knew words that big!” Ichigo shouts as he stabs at the person’s abdomen.

“No, no, no, you’re supposed to listen to us! You listen, not refuse! We’re practically _royalty_!” They?  It?  He? screeches. “ _JASDEVI THE NOAH OF BONDS COMMANDS YOU TO **LISTEN**!_”

Ichigo feels something hook into his brain, his soul, but forget it, he’s not going to let something, person or otherwise, _command_ him. And definitely not to hurt his sister.

“Fuck you!” He shouts instead, and scores a hit. “Karin, run!”

“I can’t!” She calls back.

“Then crawl!” He dodges a bullet.

“I never thought we’d have to use this on an _Akuma_.”

And suddenly an Earl appears and Ichigo is fighting a battle on two fronts, has no idea of Kisuke has managed to save Yuzu or not, needs to protect Karin because she can’t get out, and it’s too much and Ichigo isn’t enough, not like this.

His world shatters.

~IiI~

Kisuke and Benihime are a fantastic team. They don’t always agree — she doesn’t quite know what to do with an _Akuma_ that isn’t, which is the only reason Kisuke hasn’t Fallen over Ichigo — but they’re in sync in a way few Exorcists get to be.

But it’s still not enough to steal back a girl.

“Sing, Benihime!”

“You can’t stop me, Exorcist. And you can’t have the girl.”

It’s a little disconcerting having a conversation with a tiger.”

“Then why aren’t you leaving? You could take the girl and put run me.”

“No, this is the perfect time for the Dream to awaken.”

“She’s a Noah, too?”

The tiger flicks her tail smugly. “But of course. And she’s awake now.”

Behind her, Yuzu stirs and groans, “Lulubell. Leave the man alone.”

“Dream...”

“No, leave him alone. He has been kind while I was dozing. For that he will live, today.”

“But the Earl...”

_“Lulubell_.” Yuzu snarls, sounding nothing like the girl Kisuke has come to know, and sitting up to reveal golden eyes, grey-darkened skin, and stigmata adorning her brow.  “If we don’t pay back generosity, how are we any better than the humans?

Lulubell remains silent.

“Besides, I will speak with the Earl. Now, what havoc is our brother making down below?”

“Jasdevi appears to be dealing with a Finder that had stayed after the General recovered the Innocence in the city.”

“A Finder? Aaah, that’s what she’s been doing. Well, let’s collect him, then. I need to speak with the Earl.”

“Yuzu — ”

“Be quite, Urahara Kisuke. I’ve spared your life, for now. Be thankful for that.”

Turning to Lulubell, Yuzu flicks her hand, summoning a red and black checkered door, and says, “Let’s go.”

Lulubell nods and enters.

Yuzu turns back and nods at Kisuke. A small weight settles in his pocket next to his watch — because a gentleman always has a watch.

~IiI~

“Jasdevi, it’s time for us to leave!”

“Sis-ter,” he croaks, pinned to the floor.

“What on earth...?” The Noah is Dreams asks. There’s blood everywhere, pews upturned and broken, columns smashed, an _Akuma_ with a tail and spines and horns poised over him, a human foot poking out behind one of the partially destroyed columns.

(A part of Yuzu she needs to keep hidden in a dream whispers, “That’s Karin behind the column. That’s Ichi-nii over Jasdevi.”)

“Akuma, leave him.”

He — it — breathes heavily, and makes no move to leave.

“ _Akuma_.”

“ _Nooo_ ,” comes the growl.

“Leave him. I will take him.”

“ ** _Nooo_**.” Now it’s a howl.

So Yuzu — the Noah of Dreams — closes her eyes, opens a small door that sucks Jasdevi down into the Dreaming, and steps back into her door.

“Goodbye, Ichi-nii,” she whispers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

Kisuke comes down too late to a broken church and an evolved Ichigo cradling a bloody Karin.

“Karin, Karin, Karin,” he croons.

“Ichigo? Ichigo, can I see her?”

“Kisssuke. Yesss.”

He walks over, there’s no way that Ichigo will let her go now, and stares at the broken girl.

She’s still breathing, but there’s wood embedded in her arm, her ankle is swelling badly, and there’s a gunshot in her shoulder, to say nothing of the bruising around her wrists and the knot he feels on the back of her head.

He could use Kannon. Benihime would be willing, but there’s only so much that she can do when the injuries are like this.

“Let’s get her back to the Inn. I can help her there.”

“Yessss. Pleassse.”

* * *

And that's a wrap for part 2.  Hopefully it won't take me 6 months to write part 3.

Please leave a comment!

~Fins

**Author's Note:**

> So, Karin's a Finder, Yuzu takes Road's place as the Noah of Dreams -- which means she was killed by Neah 35 years pre-canon (which is probably around 30-ish years prior to this fic), Ichigo has evolved to look more like his weird lizard-bull thing and is traumatized, and Kisuke is currently very very sad.
> 
> (This was titled: the fic where everything goes to shit, for the record)


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